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Francis Lodwick FRS (or Lodowick; 1619–1694) was a pioneer of ''a priori'' languages (what in the seventeenth century was called a ' philosophical language').
Francis Lodwick: A Brief Sketch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodwick, Francis 1619 births 1694 deaths Linguists from the United Kingdom Flemish philosophers Constructed language creators Creators of writing systems 17th-century linguists Fellows of the Royal Society British people of Flemish descent
Francis Lodwick FRS (or Lodowick; 1619–1694) was a pioneer of ''a priori'' languages (what in the seventeenth century was called a ' philosophical language').
Biography
Francis Lodwick was a merchant of Flemish origin who lived inLondon
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. His name appears in ''A Collection of the Names of the Merchants living in and about the City of London'' (1677), with the address "Fan-church street" (Fenchurch Street
Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate office ...
). He did not have any higher education and was admitted as a Fellow to the Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
at the age of 60.
John Aubrey
John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...
(1626–1697) reported that there was a group of men taking up the task of constructing a philosophical language left unfinished by John Wilkins
John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.
Wilkins is one of the f ...
(d. 1672). This group included Lodwick, besides Andrew Paschall (c. 1630–c. 1696), Thomas Pigott, Robert Hooke and John Ray, the latter being former members of Wilkin's original committee.
Lodwick had been working on a universal alphabet for some time, and Wilkins had borrowed some of Lodwick's papers for his 1668 ''Essay''. Hooke notes in his diary for 12 November 1673 that Lodwick had lent him a revised version of his universal alphabet. For 10 July 1675, Hooke notes that Lodwick had discussed the universal character with him and on 28 that he (Hooke) himself had written in the character. The group maintained correspondence until at least 1682.
Lodwick's alphabet consists of a system of representing consonants systematically; symbols indicating place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is a location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articula ...
(labial, dental, palatal, velar, sibilant) are modified by indication of the manner of articulation (voiced, voiceless, aspirated, nasal). Vowels are added as diacritics. This approach is entirely parallel to the tengwar
The Tengwar script is an artificial script, one of several scripts created by J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Within the fictional context of Middle-earth, the Tengwar were invented by the Elf Fëanor, and use ...
alphabet, developed by J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
in the 1930s.
Lodwick may have been acquainted with Daniel Defoe. Francis' nephew Charles Lodwik (1658–1724), Mayor of New York City in 1694, signed at Defoe's marriage as a witness, and Francis may have introduced Defoe to " Roscommon's Academy", a group founded by Lord Roscommon in 1683.
L. L. Zamenhof
L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was an ophthalmologist who lived for most of his life in Warsaw. He is best known as the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language.
Zamenhof first dev ...
, creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language, chose ''Ludwik'' as his non-Jewish name in honor of Francis Lodwick.
Works
*1647 ''A Common Writing: Whereby two, although not understanding one the others Language, yet by the helpe thereof, may communicate their minds one to another'' *1652 ''The Ground-Work, Or Foundation Laid, (or so intended) For the Framing of a New Perfect Language: And an Vniversall or Common Writing. And presented to the consideration of the Learned'' *ca. 1675, ''A Country Not Named'' *1686 ''An Essay towards An Universal Alphabet'', Philosophical Transactions 16, pp. 126-37.See also
*Cave Beck
Cave Beck (1623 – 1706) was an English schoolmaster and clergyman, the author of ''The Universal Character'' (published in London, 1657) in which he proposed a universal language based on a numerical system.
Life
Beck was born in London in 16 ...
*George Dalgarno
George Dalgarno (c. 1616 – 1687) was a Scottish intellectual interested in linguistic problems. Originally from Aberdeen, he later worked as a schoolteacher in Oxford in collaboration with John Wilkins, although the two parted company intellectu ...
*John Wilkins
John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.
Wilkins is one of the f ...
References
Bibliography
*Cram, David and Jaap Maat, ''Universal language schemes in the 17th century'', In Auroux, Koerner, Niederehe, Versteegh (eds.), ''History of the Language Sciences'', Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2000. * Eco, Umberto, '' The search for the perfect language'', Fontana Press, 1997, , pp. 260-268 *Lewis, Rhodri, ''The efforts of the Aubrey correspondence group to revise John Wilkins’ Essay (1668) and their context'', Historiographia Linguistica 28 (2001), 331-364. *Poole, William, ''A Rare Early-Modern Utopia: Francis Lodwick’s A Country Not Named (c. 1675)'', Utopian Studies 15 (2004), 115-37. *Poole, William, ''The Genesis Narrative in the Circle of Robert Hooke and Francis Lodwick'', in Hessayon and Keene (eds.), ''Scripture and Scholarship in Early Modern England'', Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005. *Poole, William, ''Francis Lodwick’s Creation: Theology and Natural Philosophy in the Early Royal Society.'', Journal of the History of Ideas, 2005. *Salmon, Vivian, ''The Works of Francis Lodwick'', London: Longman, 1972.External links
Francis Lodwick: A Brief Sketch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodwick, Francis 1619 births 1694 deaths Linguists from the United Kingdom Flemish philosophers Constructed language creators Creators of writing systems 17th-century linguists Fellows of the Royal Society British people of Flemish descent